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”I want to quit school”, I overhear a young school girl tell her friend.

“Why?”

”It’s just too hard”, she answers in Urdu looking away.

“Ok, but you don’t need to take school so seriously, you only need to get an average D and you will pass and get your high school diploma”, the other advises looking concerned.

“I know, but I don’t see the point, I’m not planning to work after getting married anyway”

“I see, however, a high school diploma might come in handy at a later stage, don’t you think?”

The conversation took place between two Norwegian-Pakistani high school girls on the bus. The conversation lingered with me. Naturally, the girl on the bus (any girl really) has the full right to dream and to choose a future as home wife if that is what she prefers. However, I kept thinking, how well founded is her life choice and has she considered the implications?

Disparity in life conditions

”There are large disparities in living conditions comparing men and women with immigrant background. Women are more often socially excluded. They are often bound for house work, are less fluent in Norwegian, have fewer Norwegian friends and more often feel marginalized and alone. Work outside home decreases this disparity significantly.(NOU 2011: 14 Bedre integrering).

Typically, the men the two girls from the bus will marry will most likely be” brought” from the parent previous homeland. So why is this important or even relevant? Very often this implies that their newly-wed husband does not speak Norwegian, does not have a job or relevant work experience, meaning that they will be dependent on their wife’s and the wife’s families for a considerable period of time..

Hence, if these school girls choose not to educate and dream of becoming a housewife – what does this life choice entail for their future families? How will they manage economically? Do they ever stop to consider that having no education limits opportunities, and, as a consequence, often result in life in relative poverty?

No unusual choice

At a later stage, I shared the story of the school girls on the bus with a young Norwegian girl of Turkish origin. She was not surprised at all and shared that many young Turkish girls world make the same life choice. She

Vejin og Isha.

reflected; “Many choose to marry early as this is perceived as an easy way to obtain some freedom – freedom to go out, freedom to have a “boyfriend” and to live the life on your own premises.”

“However, they are not free”, she says with sadness in her eyes. “They believe they chose freedom and a life different from their parents, but in practice they are economically very “un-free” and will be facing many of the same challenges as their parents – often economic difficulties and dire conditions.”

When the first wave of immigrants came to Norway in the late 60’s and early 70’s, many struggled. They did not know the Norwegian language, they owned nothing, lacked social network and longed for their families and friends back home. Home sickness, loneliness and marginalization often prevailed. But the pains and losses experienced by former generations, does not need to be inherited by future generations. The opportunities today are there – another future is on offer by choosing to educate and work and therefore, become economically independent and free.

Seema – advocating for the alternative

I very often think of the school girls on the bus… I think of the considerable amount of research conducted, both in Norway and internationally, on the consequences of dropping out of school at early ages, re-production of social inequality and how social exclusion and poverty still prevail in families with immigrant background.

Fra Seemas Workshop 14.april 2012

The question continued to haunt me: How can I use my education, knowledge and insight accumulated from being the leader of the National Committee for parents who have children in primary and/or secondary education, the leader of the government appointed “Kvinnepanelet” and leading the research resulting in the NOU publication «Med forskertrang og lekelyst», not to forget my personal experience as an immigrant woman to advocate for the alternatives – alternatives to marginalization, social exclusion and poverty for women with immigrant background?

Seema will through mentorship, coaching, competency programs and sharing of network provide girls and women with immigrant background access to the work life. Companies we partner with (and their chosen program mentors) will be offered skills in diversity and management of a diverse work force.

Seema believes in the equality of human beings and our inherent force and will to develop ourselves. We believe in potential to be strong and free – and we want to equip girls and women with the tools to validate alternatives and to make them good architects of their own lives.

Our focus and mandate is education and work! We want to make the path to education and work education for girls and women with immigrant background shorter.

Man: Hi, are you the leader for the national committee for parents who have children in primary and/or secondary education asks the man who sits beside me on the plane.

I: That’s right, I used to be. Currently I am in the process of setting up my company, Seema AS. I give him the brief elevator speech focusing on our vision of promoting diversity, before asking – what do you do?

Man: I am a manager in a medium sized organization and one of our key values is diversity.

I: How exciting, please tell me how you are working to promote diversity in the workplace?

Man: We have included it in our values, but unfortunately, we have very little time and capacity to fully implement our values at the moment. A full focus on diversity will probably have to wait until we have more time.I: First, building diversity into the organization values is a good starting point. Maybe I can help you look at how your organization further can promote diversity in the workplace?

Man: Currently we have no employees with immigrant backgrounds in our business; however, we may in the future, so it is certainly on our agenda.I: (smiling) I am sure you have some diversity in your staff already.Man: No, we have only employed Norwegians. But now that I know about Seema AS, I know who to call when we are looking for advice on how to handle diversity. Currently, we do not have the capacity and need to focus on the bottom line.Les videre →